A Halloween Dance
by Onyx Lioness
Summary: Nala manages to convince the mayor to have a halloween dance, even if it is pretty early. But how on earth will this dance end up? YES, I KNOW IT'S LATE!


Okay, I have been meaning to submit another fanfiction for a while now...but I was unable to think of anything. My mind was blank. I had wanted to write something that happened in the summer season, but I couldn't think of anything at all, as I've already said. So, I finally got to work on a Halloween fanfiction...after Halloween. Yes, it's late, you'll just have to deal with it. So, hopefully you'll enjoy my strange fanfic!

Disclaimer: I own Harvest Moon as much as I like being sick on the weekends.

* * *

"Aw, c'mon Mayor! It would be a great idea, and I'm sure all the villagers would have fun!" 

A small discussion was taking place in the household of Mayor Theodore. It involved Theodore himself, and that fun-loving rancher Nala. They sat at the kitchen table, staring at each other from each side of it.

"I don't know, we don't really have any children in Flowerbud," Theodore sighed. He added to himself silently, 'Though some of the villagers may act like it…'

"Who says we have to have lots of little kids? A dance or something is all I'm suggesting," Nala prodded, throwing her arms up in exaggeration.

'Suggesting doesn't seem to be the word…' Theodore sighed inwardly.

"Well…perhaps…" he said, fingers twiddling in thought. He frowned a little, not entirely sure to take Nala's 'suggestion' or not.

"So it's pretty early, but what's wrong with it?" the eager Nala continued. Her golden-brown eyes had a puppyish look in them, and if she had to, she'd make them teary. She stared at Theodore pleadingly.

"Oh, all right, all right…" Theodore sighed, finally giving in. It wouldn't hurt to have an extra little festival; the villagers might enjoy it… Yes, now that he thought about it, a dance would be a marvelous idea! Why didn't he think of this before? He'd go with it, and if the villagers enjoyed it, he'd have the same festival next year.

"YES!" Nala cheered, jumping up in joy. She KNEW that Theodore would give in to her puppy-dog face; no person in Flowerbud would be able to resist it…well, except for that self-centered, stubborn, pig-headed, purple-haired rancher Jamie!

"After all, EVERYONE loves Halloween!"

* * *

"Boy, it sure was hard work, but I did it! I got the mayor to agree for a Halloween Dance! Yeah, I know what you're thinking…it's the beginning of fall, for goodness sake! But I just couldn't wait that long… Besides, you could say this dance is sort of…a pilot, I guess!" 

Nala had a beaming smile on her face after reciting her small tale to one of her best friends in Flowerbud, Ellen. The two were sitting on top of the fence surrounding the pasture of Blue Sky Ranch. The two ranchers both held a bowl of pumpkin soup in their hands, specially made by Nala, somehow managing to slurp it up with a spoon and hold it steady.

"That's great, Nala," Ellen said cheerily after sipping another spoonful of pumpkin soup. "I suppose we come to the dance in costumes?"

"Of course, all in the Halloween spirit!" Nala informed happily. "Only problem is where everyone's going to get costumes…"

"Nala, you should know by now not to underestimate us citizens of Flowerbud Village!" Ellen said somewhat proudly. "We'll manage. I'll probably make my own costume, and besides, it shouldn't be too hard to get something from the city."

"True, true…" Nala agreed, nodding her head. "I stopped by Spring Farm earlier, and we've both agreed to donate some pumpkins to the festival for jack-o-lanterns. Of course, I don't know squat about carving, so I asked Kurt."

"And I bet he happily agreed," Ellen giggled. "Of course, knowing him, I bet he said he wouldn't normally do it, but he'd do it JUST for YOU!"

Though Nala constantly denied it, Ellen knew Kurt liked her a lot. She'd bet that Nala liked Kurt back, too…but then again, there WAS Jamie. The messy brown-haired rancher constantly teased Nala about this. Nala would normally slap someone unconscious for saying something like this, but Ellen could get away with it. After all, they were best friends.

"That is NOT TRUE!" Nala argued, though her cheeks turned red, and the girl wondered how on earth Ellen knew Kurt had said that…

She nearly leapt up, going to pretend to attack Ellen, but suddenly remembered the bowl of soup in her hands. She let out a startled shriek as she fumbled with it before finally keeping it still. She sighed and plopped back down on the fence post, trying to ignore Ellen's school girlish laugh.

"That was close," Nala sighed. "I gotta be more careful." She decided it would be best and hurry to finish the rest of her soup before another accident occurred, which probably would, knowing Nala.

"That you should," Ellen giggled, taking another slow sip of soup from her spoon. She exaggerated how careful she was being, just to make fun of her friend. Nala simply stuck her tongue out in response.

Ellen turned her head at the sound of someone walking through the pasture. By the sound of it, it was her cousin, Blue. She could always tell when he was coming just by listening to his footsteps. Yes, it was a bit strange, but it was just something the rancher knew.

"Hi, Blue!" Ellen and Nala both said, waving in greeting. Blue gave a sharp and quick nod in greeting before continuing on.

"No offense Ellen, but your cousin…well, he doesn't seem like the most amiable person in the world," Nala whispered to Ellen.

"Blue is nice! He's just…er, shy. But once you get to know him, he's kind!" Ellen objected, defending her cousin. "Besides, what about Jamie? He always seems to be a jerk, but you like him!"

"I do not!" Nala growled, but Ellen just whistled to herself, pretending she couldn't hear Nala at all.

"You know, one of these days you'll have to make up your mind!" Ellen told Nala. She continued to explain at Nala's baffled expression. "You know, Jamie and Kurt. One day you'll have to figure out which one you like!" This time, it was Nala's turn to whistle.

"Like I've said countless times before, I don't know what you're talking about!" Nala objected, shaking her head. "Maybe you need to go see a doctor, because you're not making any sense!"

She set her now empty bowl and spoon down on the post next to her and jumped off. "Anyway, I should probably get going now. I have pumpkins to harvest!" she said, picking up her silverware. She began to walk off before quickly spinning around, deciding to get the last laugh.

"By the way, it IS a dance…maybe you should think about asking Carl!" she teased before running off, though getting a glimpse of Ellen's face. For some reason, she had a hunch she wasn't turning red in anger…

* * *

After returning from the Workshop and storing the jack-o-lanterns away, Nala found herself in the upstairs room of the Sanatorium. She had come with a stack of magazines. Luckily for her, Maria had all kinds of up-to-date magazines, and Nala had managed to find a few with Halloween costumes for sale, or ones you could make yourself. 

"Wow, Maria really does keep her library up-to-date!" Nala said while leafing through a magazine. She saw many interesting costumes, but still had no idea what she was going to be.

She turned her head to the side to look at the emerald-eyed princess next to her, Dia. Though it took a while to get the ill girl to come around, it was worth it. Dia was a great person to be friends with.

"So, any ideas what you're going to be?" she asked, head tilted to the side. "You'd look really pretty in some of these costumes, more pretty then usual at least!"

Dia blushed but smiled. "I haven't decided either. I'm not even sure if I will be able to go to the dance…"

"Hmmm…maybe you could come for just a LITTLE while?" Nala asked; a playful spark in her eyes. "You'd look nice as a witch, or…a princess! You'd make a perfect princess!"

"Oh, just keep looking," Dia told her. "I highly doubt I'm going to show up as a princess…"

"Well, you WOULD look good in it…" Nala teased before turning the page on her magazine. "At least you have some suggestions. I have no ideas to what I'll be." Her fingers ran across the page before flipping to the next one, then doing the same thing repeatedly.

"Stop," Dia commanded after watching Nala go through countless magazines like this. She snatched the magazine away from the blonde-haired rancher and began to thumb through it herself before stopping. "You'd look good in this."

Nala peered over at the magazine and looked at the costume Dia was pointing to. Her eyebrows rose in surprise and glanced at Dia to see if she was serious. Dia was, of course, serious, she rarely isn't.

"You think I should go dressed as a lion?" Nala asked. "It does look nice…but, why a lion?"

"You'd look good in it," Dia simply replied. "You should go as this. Besides, it is better then showing up in no costume at all."

"Hmm…" Nala mumbled, thinking it over for a few minutes. "All right, I'll go as a lion," she agreed. "BUT you'll have to go as a princess! Deal?" She stuck out her hand to shake.

Dia frowned at the agreement. She glanced at the lion costume, to Nala, then to Nala's outstretched hand. She stuck out her own hand and shook Nala's hand, shaking it gently and a bit reluctantly.

"Alright, deal."

* * *

A couple of days later, on the night of the Halloween Dance, Nala found herself slipping into her lion costume, which had arrived the day earlier. Though she wasn't about to admit it to Dia, she rather liked it. 

A pair of golden lion ears sat on top of her dirty blonde hair, connected to a golden headband to keep them on good. She wore a dark golden dress; it was a bit glittery and shiny. A golden tail was attached to the back, hanging down almost to the rancher's ankles. A pair of long fake silver nails came with the costume, to make it look like you had claws. The last piece of the costume was a dark golden mask that covered up most of her face except below where her mouth was. Around the area where there were eye holes to see out, there was a brownish-golden color. On the far sides of the mask there was a curve of red glitter.

"There, all done," Nala said to herself after brushing her hair. It probably would have been easier if she had done that before putting on the mask and ears, but Nala did things her way.

She turned to look at her puppy. "So, what do you think, Simba? Do I look good, or do I look good?"

Simba barked happily, and his mouth seemed to be turned upward in a smile. Nala decided she would take that as a yes.

"Well, better hurry to the dance!" Nala said, rushing to the door. "Otherwise by the time I'll get there, the dance will be over! Bye, Simba, guard the home front!"

She quickly stepped out of the door into the chilly night air. She shivered and quickly hurried over to Rose Square, where she could hear Halloween music already playing (not the best for dancing to, but sooner or later someone would request another song). Several times she nearly tripped from stepping on her dress, not used to wearing one.

She finally entered the Square and smiled as she looked around. The jack-o-lanterns seemed to have the creepiest glow from the candles inside; there were fake cobwebs and bats hanging about in the trees. There were even several tables with Halloween-like food on them, ghost cookies, caramel apples, pumpkin soup, etc.

Nala spotted Ellen not too far away and hurried over to greet her. Ellen was dressed up as an angel, with a long white gown and bright gold wings. A metal wire was hidden in her hair, with a part sticking up connected to the bright golden halo 'hovering' over her head.

"Wow, Ellen, nice costume!" Nala complimented, scanning her friend's costume.

"Thanks," Ellen giggled. "Yours is nice, too! A lion seems to fit you."

"Thanks…I think?" Nala laughed, not sure if Ellen had just given her a compliment or an insult.

"Ohmygosh!" Ellen squealed, pointing behind Nala. Nala turned her head and gasped as she saw who walked into the Square.

"Dia! You look AMAZING!" Nala complimented, excitedly running over to her. "See, I TOLD you needed to come as a princess!"

Dia was, indeed, dressed as a princess. She wore a light red coned cap, like the hats you see some princesses wear in fairy tales. A pink silk-like fabric came up from the point of the hat and went down to the bottom. She wore a dark ruby red dress with a light red stripe in the middle. A ruby red stone was in the middle of it, whether the stone was a real ruby or not, no one could tell. The sleeves of the dress went down to her wrist, but the shoulders were a puffed up pink silk-like fabric, the part of the dress that Dia detested. You would see her often try to flatten it down with her hands, but it never worked. She wore a light red robe on her shoulders, or so it appeared to be. It probably doubled as a jacket, Dia would need the warmth. She would have rather had the costume in a green color, but the costume didn't come in that color.

"Don't get your hopes up, it's not something I really wanted to come as," Dia said after attempting to flatten her puffy sleeves. Though, she had to admit, she did like the costume a little…except for the shoulder area of the sleeves. "You look good in that lion costume, just like I told you."

"You both look great!" Ellen giggled. She hoped one of the villagers had been smart enough to bring a camera; she'd want pictures of everyone in their costumes.

"Hey, I think I see Carl," Nala said, glancing over Ellen's shoulder. "I dare you to go ask him to dance." Before Ellen could protest, she pushed Ellen in Carl's direction.

"So, do you plan on dancing with anyone?" Nala asked Dia. "I'm sure there are lots of people here who would love to dance with you."

"Probably not…I'd rather not ask anyone," Dia said shyly. Truth was, she'd like to dance with Kurt…but wasn't sure if Nala wanted to or not.

"Aw, come on, you can tell me!" Nala pleaded, trying to get Dia to admit the fact that she did want to dance with someone. Dia held firm.

"Um…Nala?" Nala spun around, feeling someone tap her shoulder.

"Oh, hey Kurt!" Nala greeted Kurt cheerily. "Danced with anyone yet?" She had a teasing gleam in her eyes.

She looked Kurt over. He wasn't really in a costume, not being able to think of anything. He had finally shown up in a black suit, going as something she'd guess to be a groom or butler.

"Well, actually, I was wondering…do you want to dance?" Kurt asked; his face a bit red after asking.

"You want to…dance with me? Sure, why not!" Nala agreed, taking Kurt's hand with a smile. Good thing Ellen wasn't around…

The two began dancing around the square, both of them quite enjoying themselves. While they were dancing, Nala caught a glimpse of others dancing as well. There was Eve, dressed as a black cat (in the spirit of Halloween), dancing with Dan, dressed as a pirate.

'Ha, a pirate fits Dan well,' Nala thought, trying not to giggle as she and Kurt danced past.

Alex was dressed as a vampire, with fake teeth and everything. He seemed to be busy dancing with several people. He danced once with Dia, something Nala was happy for, once with Gwen, dressed as a devil, and twice with Gina, dressed as a witch.

A big smile crossed her face when they passed Ellen and Carl; Carl dressed up as a chef. The two seemed to be having a lot of fun, a fact Nala was sure to point out to Ellen later. Ah, revenge really was sweet.

As they danced past Dia, who was no longer dancing, Nala noticed the smallest hint of envy in her eyes. Dia mostly seemed to be calm and collected, but there was just a tiniest hint of envy deep back in those emerald eyes of hers as she watched them dance past.

'Oh…so she wanted to…oops.'

"Um, hey Kurt, I'm getting kind of tired," Nala lied, stepping away from Kurt. "But…maybe you could go dance with Dia!"

Without waiting for his response, she took his hand yet again and led him over to Dia. She pushed the two close to each other.

"Hey Dia, you probably want to dance more, right? Right, of course you do, and so does Kurt!" she said for both of them. "So, why don't you two dance…together? Perfect solution! Now get on out there!"

"Um…well, Miss Dia, would you like to dance?" Kurt asked, a little confused to Nala's sudden enthusiasm at the matter, but it wouldn't hurt.

"Uh…if you desire to," Dia stuttered, sending a sharp glare in Nala's direction as pink tinged her cheeks. "You may call me Dia…just Dia."

Nala smiled and retreated to the food tables, though not hungry or thirsty in the least. But she didn't want to stand in the middle of the Square like an idiot while everyone danced around her like some detour sign or traffic cone.

She wandered over to a corner, thinking she'd stand away from the crowd and watch the 'couples' dance to the music. So, she was a bit surprised when she found someone else standing there, probably trying to stay away from the crowd himself.

"Jamie, what are YOU of all people doing here?" Nala asked him, a bit surprised that the cowboy would actually show up to a dance.

"Ha, don't think I came for fun," Jamie scoffed. "I had nothing better to do but watch you silly villagers dance. I see you aren't dancing with your boyfriend anymore."

"Kurt isn't my boyfriend!" Nala argued, wondering if her fake claws could do real damage. She decided to change the subject. "Anyway, this is a HALLOWEEN dance. You're supposed to be wearing a costume or something."

"Aren't you the one who refers to me as a cowboy?" Jamie pointed out with a confident smirk. "There you go."

"But you're ALWAYS dressed like that!" Nala fumed. She crossed her arms and scowled at the purple-haired rancher.

"At least I'm not dressed up as a cat," the stubborn cowboy simply said, rolling his ice blue eyes.

"I'm a lion!" Nala informed him sharply. She sighed and decided there was no use continuing the conversation. "Just forget it, 'cowboy'. Maybe you should just leave."

"Well, I am wasting my time at this stupid dance, that's probably the only good idea you've ever said," Jamie said simply, beginning to bore the trivial argument.

"Hey, wait a minute now!" Nala growled. "I'M the one who suggested this dance!" Without a thought, she took a few steps forward.

"Oh, well then THAT explains everything," Jamie taunted, taking a few steps forward himself.

"Well, excuse me for not being able to satisfy your TASTE!" Nala growled, taking another few steps forward towards Jamie. "Maybe you're just jealous because no one would ever dream of dancing with you!"

"Ha, and why would I WANT to dance with any one of you?" Jamie asked, wait, and just guess…he took a few more steps toward.

"No one WOULD want to dance with you!" Nala countered. "Besides, everyone's dancing skills hear probably FAR surpass your own!"

"Want to bet?" Jamie asked. "I could dance better then every single one of you here easily."

"Oh, I highly doubt that!" Nala snorted. One could almost see the blazing fire reflected in her golden-brown eyes. "I could easily dance better than you!"

"Do you really think so?" Jamie asked her. "Well then, shall we see who the better dancer is?"

"Wait…did you suggest the two of US dancing together to see who's better?" Nala asked, eyes widened in surprise. She blinked and suddenly yelped, realizing that the two of their faces were just inches apart from stepping towards each other so much. She blushed and stepped back.

She stared hard at Jamie's ice blue eyes, just daring her to go ahead and accept. She realized the purple-haired rancher didn't think she would agree. She had the temptation to walk off in a huff, but that would give Jamie the satisfaction of winning.

"Fine then, let's go see," she agreed, walking off towards the middle of the square. She smirked, knowing that it was Jamie's turn to be surprise.

He quickly recovered from his surprise, not about to give Nala the satisfaction of winning, either. He quickly walked after her and briskly grabbed her hand, probably feeling a bit strange doing so.

Nala awkwardly began to dance, thinking that'd they'd both look like fools stumbling all over the place. To her great surprise, though, Jamie was quite a good dancer. She cursed the fact that he had been right, but was determined not to let him see that she thought that. She needed to get herself together, and soon began dancing like she had with Kurt.

Both Nala and Jamie were fully aware of the fact that people were staring at the 'interesting' couple. Jamie didn't show if he cared that they were staring, but to Nala's deep mortification, Ellen, as well as Kurt and Dia, were staring as well. Oh, she was never going to live this down…

"So, ready to admit that I'm a better dancer?" Jamie asked. "It would stop everyone from staring."

"Don't you wish!" Nala objected. She really, REALLY didn't want to admit that Jamie was right…no, he WASN'T right, she reminded herself. But she really wanted everyone to stop staring.

'Oh, suck it up!' she told herself.

The two continued dancing throughout the rest of the dance, neither of them wanting to leave and let the other one know they were right. By then, people had stopped staring at them. They just gave them strange and humorous glances.

Soon, Mayor Theodore walked up to a stand with a microphone, to what its use was for Nala had yet to realize. The mayor cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Well, I'd like to say that the Halloween Dance was a great success, and it is sad to see it end. We will most certainly continue this festival next year," he spoke clearly into the microphone. "I'd like to thank Nala for the idea, and I believe she deserves a round of applause."

The people around began clapping, except for Jamie, of course. Nala gave him a smirk and said, "Stupid dance, huh?"

"Continuing, I decided the dance needed a little something…extra! I'd now like to announce the winners of the best couple awards!"

"For third place, we have…" he paused for suspense, and a spotlight clicked on and circled around Rose Square. Nala wondered where on earth the mayor had gotten a spotlight and where he installed it. "Ellen and Carl!"

Nala smiled at the sound of Ellen's excited squeal. She watched her friend drag Carl with her up to get the bronze trophy. Ellen had a proud expression on her face, and Carl seemed happy as well…though he was blushing.

"Second place goes to…" The spotlight swiveled around before stopping on the next couple. "Kurt and Dia!"

Nala stared to where the spotlight was positioned to see both Kurt and Dia, happy and surprised. Kurt looked a little nervous at this sudden announcement. Dia had a blush as red as her dress and looked down to hide it. The two of them walked slowly up to receive the silver trophy.

"And now, the winners of the first place trophy…" The spotlight swiveled around quickly, and the mayor looked very excited. Nala was surprised he didn't have some sort of drum roll for this moment. "Jamie and Nala!"

Both Jamie and Nala looked shocked, eyes wide, not expecting that at ALL. Even Jamie showed that he was very surprised, not to mention almost as embarrassed as Nala. The two stood there for a minute or two in the bright spotlight, sort of like if you shined a bright light in a deer's eyes. A few people around them giggled, and someone gave them a nudge forward. The two of them finally walked forward, giving each other a hard death glare as they walked.

"And that's the end of the festival!" Theodore announced cheerily.

* * *

The next day, Nala was constantly teased by Ellen, being told that it looks like she made up her mind. Nala objected and said that she would much rather have danced with Kurt more, even saying that to the wondering apprentice. She claimed it was the 'soda', wine really, that she had, though Ellen always pointed out the fact that neither Jamie nor Nala had anything to drink that night.

* * *

By the way, about the 'us' instead of 'we' thing, in case you're wondering... I had started to say 'we', but my computer/spell check freaked out because it was 'improper English'. 

And yes, that Nala/lion costume was an intended pun. Get it, because you know, Simba...Nala...lion...ah, forget it.


End file.
